MechWarrior: Slayers
by Zero Apocalypse
Summary: The Kestrel Order of planet Antaroth has been attacked once again. An incredible new weapon has been unleashed by unknown enemies. Lieutenant Zachary Shrike's Razor lance has been wiped out. Now, he must fight this threat himself and destroy it before mor
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1  
  
"Alright, gentlemen. Stay sharp. Our target should be just ahead according to last report." The lance of four Kestrel Order 'Mechs, two Medium, one Heavy and one Assault came over a small ridge on the dusty, barren world of Geftral 3. Lieutenant Shrike switched off his comm and checked his radar. The three blips of his lancemates were behind him of course, but there was something else, too. He looked closer and wiped off the screen to make sure it wasn't just dust. It wasn't. "Razor lead, I've got target facility on radar to the Northeast, 600 meters. There don't appear to be any defending 'Mechs" Just like the report said. "I see it, Four. There's something else to your rear, though. Two, turn around and make a quick check." Razor two's Mad Cat pivoted its torso 180 degrees and he killed his forward momentum. "Lead, I don't see anything. You sure?" "No, I'm not. There was a faint blip on my active radar, but it didn't register as a target. Kind of like it wasn't mechanical." Then, the target hit them. A large flying creature swooped up from behind the ridge behind them. It quickly fired several large laser blasts and missiles from its wings; clipping Razor two's left arm and torso, destroying both. Three pivoted his Uziel's torso and fired both his PPCs, cleanly missing the creature. Their assailant then turned sharply, avoiding an SRM barrage from Four. Shrike was still attempting to get a lock and fire his LRMs when the thing stopped turning and dove straight for him. He fired reflexively and missed wide to the right along the enemy's previous vector. It collided with his Awesome just over the cockpit, knocking him over. He could only look on from his back as it fired all its weapons into Four's Ryoken, ripping the cockpit out. Shrike kept watching, but never saw Four's ejection pod leave the body. "Two, will you kill that thing, please? Come on, it can't be that hard to hit!" Two shot his dual Large lasers, and followed up with his remaining SRM launcher. The lasers missed but two of his SRMs hit dead on. The flying creature veered off course and shook its tail to put out the fire on it. "I can't believe that thing's still flying." Shrike's Awesome was almost back on its feet. "Come on you slow piece of shit, get up!" He was back up just in time to see the thing blast Two's Mad Cat right through. "Damn! Two, punch out!" He heard Two's voice through heavy static. "Trying, sir. Too much damage, it must have fried the circuits to my computer. Nothing's responding. Three, help me!" Three rushed over. "Three, I'll cover you, just get Two out of there." Shrike settled his crosshairs on the enemy. He had landed to finish cooling the burn, then took off again and headed back into the engagement. Shrike was about to fire his full laser arsenal at the thing when the missiles it had fired two seconds earlier slammed into him. His assault missed wide, but the enemy faltered just enough to miss the shot it was firing at his remaining lancemates. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough. The thing still had its full missile loadout which it launched a split-second later. Just another split-second before Shrike fired the LRMs that killed it. All of the enemy missiles hit home, slamming into Three's back and detonating his missile stores. The secondary explosion ripped through his Uziel's body and destroyed it along with what was left of Two's Mad Cat. Neither of them had time to punch out. Shrike had lost his whole lance to a single enemy that he couldn't identify. He watched in enraged horror as it crashed to the ground after his missiles had hit it.  
  
. . .  
  
"So, you say you were attacked by an animal armed with Lasers and Missiles? That's quite interesting." The debriefing officer looked quite skeptical. "I didn't say that. I said it looked like an animal. It could have been a flying 'Mech or really powerful launch vehicle. All I know is that it didn't show up on radar and it looked like it was alive," Shrike responded, a little angry that the debriefing officer didn't believe him. "So, none of your lancemates caught it either? I mean, from your report, you spotted it but they didn't." "I caught the blip on the radar, but it wasn't marked. Like what happens when your radar goes into long-range passive mode. The thing is, I was in active radar mode and my lancemates showed up clear as day. I never caught the thing on my radar even after we engaged it." Shrike felt a twinge of guilt when he looked back and saw the enemy take out Four's Ryoken while he was on his back. "Look, I don't really care what it was, sergeant. All I know is that it destroyed my whole lance without hardly lifting a. well, wing I suppose." "Don't worry, Lieutenant, I'll have the research boys see what they can pull from the salvage and see what that thing really was. I agree with you on one thing, though. If that thing took out Razor Lance by itself, it was one hell of a machine. Good work out there today." The debriefing sergeant got up and headed for the door. "Sergeant, just one more thing." He stopped and turned to face Shrike again. "Don't let the lab boys forget to turn over what they learn to command. It would be a real tragedy if the same thing happens to any other patrol lances without even knowing what they're shooting at." The sergeant smiled sympathetically, saluted and left. Shrike returned the salute and dropped into a dry sob. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 3  
  
"Shrike, thank you again for saving us all. That was a pretty intense fight. But, I have good news for you now anyway. We recovered the body of that thing and you were right. It was almost entirely organic." Norman looked ecstatic, but there was an undertone of fear in his voice. "Don't worry about it, General, I'm going off to hunt those things down, remember? I won't fail you guys. So, what else is there that you found about it?" Norman pulled some papers from his desk. "This is the full report. The interesting stuff is book marked. Take a look." Shrike took the report from the General's hand and flipped to the first paper clip. It was a diagram of the creature. The weapons were labeled and Shrike read them aloud. "2X Medium Pulse lasers, 2X ER Large Lasers, 4X ER Medium Lasers, 3X LRM 10s. Jesus Christ this thing is incredible. I've seen Assault 'Mechs with fewer weapons." Shrike turned to the next clip. The header read "Biological Report". It outlined tests taken from the creature's cells. It appeared to be reptilian, though it had wings that shared the same cell structure. "Norman," Shrike said softly. "What do you think of this thing?" Norman shook his head. "I don't know, but it seems to resemble the mythical creatures known as dragons. The definition of the word means 'huge, often flying reptile'. Many of our scientists suspect bioengineering at work. Turn to the next clip and you'll see." Shrike turned and saw that it was a DNA report. Several small sections were circled. Notes at the bottom read, 'Indicated portions have been added and are not found in the DNA of typical lizards native to this planet. They are closely related to the chromosomes that allow domestic animals to be trained.' "Ummm. Norman? What does that mean? These things are alive, and their creators trained them to be killing machines?" "That's the gist of it. We only know that much, but it's enough. They're fast, strong and have more weapons than any one of our 'Mechs. The only thing we can hope for out of this is that that one was a prototype and there are no more of them out there." "I hope you're right, General. Is there anything else?" "No, Lieutenant. You can go now. Just come back alive." Shrike turned to go. "Oh, and Shrike, I'm sending a few 'Mech pilots with you. Hopefully you can get your hands on a few 'Mechs off the Market and get a squadron started. Godspeed, soldier." Shrike turned, saluted and left.  
  
. . .  
  
The voice came over Shrike's comm in the flatbed. It was a young voice, but one he had heard earlier during the battle. "Hey, Liuetenant. I'm corporal Nick Boler. I've been assigned to your command. My lancemates here are Chris Gonnard and Lisa Akland. Good to be with you." Shrike looked at his radar. Two Cougars and a Heavily modified Bulldog tank. Hardly a force, but it was a start at least. "Good to have you guys with me. I've got a location to set up shop. It's an old half burned out fire base about 3000 Kms out. From there we should be able to get some Black Market connections and start some raid ops. Sound good?" Lisa spoke. "Uh, sure. How's the pay?" Shrike snickered. Typical warriors. "You're still getting your military commission, plus whatever I decide you're worth. Just so you all know, our objective out here is to eliminate the threat of those dragon things." Boler spoke again. "Sure Lieutenant, sounds like fun. Right guys?" The others gave affirmatives and they all seemed to close formation a little. The four sped off toward their destination. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
"Shrike, thank you again for saving us all. That was a pretty intense fight. But, I have good news for you now anyway. We recovered the body of that thing and you were right. It was almost entirely organic." Norman looked ecstatic, but there was an undertone of fear in his voice. "Don't worry about it, General, I'm going off to hunt those things down, remember? I won't fail you guys. So, what else is there that you found about it?" Norman pulled some papers from his desk. "This is the full report. The interesting stuff is book marked. Take a look." Shrike took the report from the General's hand and flipped to the first paper clip. It was a diagram of the creature. The weapons were labeled and Shrike read them aloud. "2X Medium Pulse lasers, 2X ER Large Lasers, 4X ER Medium Lasers, 3X LRM 10s. Jesus Christ this thing is incredible. I've seen Assault 'Mechs with fewer weapons." Shrike turned to the next clip. The header read "Biological Report". It outlined tests taken from the creature's cells. It appeared to be reptilian, though it had wings that shared the same cell structure. "Norman," Shrike said softly. "What do you think of this thing?" Norman shook his head. "I don't know, but it seems to resemble the mythical creatures known as dragons. The definition of the word means 'huge, often flying reptile'. Many of our scientists suspect bioengineering at work. Turn to the next clip and you'll see." Shrike turned and saw that it was a DNA report. Several small sections were circled. Notes at the bottom read, 'Indicated portions have been added and are not found in the DNA of typical lizards native to this planet. They are closely related to the chromosomes that allow domestic animals to be trained.' "Ummm. Norman? What does that mean? These things are alive, and their creators trained them to be killing machines?" "That's the gist of it. We only know that much, but it's enough. They're fast, strong and have more weapons than any one of our 'Mechs. The only thing we can hope for out of this is that that one was a prototype and there are no more of them out there." "I hope you're right, General. Is there anything else?" "No, Lieutenant. You can go now. Just come back alive." Shrike turned to go. "Oh, and Shrike, I'm sending a few 'Mech pilots with you. Hopefully you can get your hands on a few 'Mechs off the Market and get a squadron started. Godspeed, soldier." Shrike turned, saluted and left.  
  
. . .  
  
The voice came over Shrike's comm in the flatbed. It was a young voice, but one he had heard earlier during the battle. "Hey, Liuetenant. I'm corporal Nick Boler. I've been assigned to your command. My lancemates here are Chris Gonnard and Lisa Akland. Good to be with you." Shrike looked at his radar. Two Cougars and a Heavily modified Bulldog tank. Hardly a force, but it was a start at least. "Good to have you guys with me. I've got a location to set up shop. It's an old half burned out fire base about 3000 Kms out. From there we should be able to get some Black Market connections and start some raid ops. Sound good?" Lisa spoke. "Uh, sure. How's the pay?" Shrike snickered. Typical warriors. "You're still getting your military commission, plus whatever I decide you're worth. Just so you all know, our objective out here is to eliminate the threat of those dragon things." Boler spoke again. "Sure Lieutenant, sounds like fun. Right guys?" The others gave affirmatives and they all seemed to close formation a little. The four sped off toward their destination. 


End file.
